Author's Note- I know! I know! Late update! Please don't be angry! School is starting soon, and other obligations in my life have kept my attention, so I haven't had a lot of time for this. I have read the answers left by you, and I will continue to strive to update it weekly, but it may be a couple days late sometimes. Thanks to ShiverIntheLight, Sorceress of the Fake, and TriforceOfWisdom for their reviews and answers. So, chapter eight of Monster!

Monster: Chapter Eight

Zelda looked up, startled. She had been quietly sitting at her reading desk in her quarters, wondering where Link had been all day, as he had not shown up at dinner, and none of the servants had seen him all day save for the few in the library, when she had heard a quiet thump and a soft whimper, not unlike the use a dog would make when injured. That in itself was unusual, as she knew of no dogs on the castle grounds- well perhaps the small dog the castle cook owned, but it wouldn't possibly be able to make its way near to where she resided, and certainly not in the room above her.

Room above her… Link's quarters were not directly above her, but they were close enough that it was plausible the noise came from there. Even if it didn't originate from there, it gave her a reason to check on him, ask him where he has been.

Thus decided, she rose from her chair and started her way towards Link's room.

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Link inwardly groaned as his supine from landed heavily in his room. He had spent a good portion of his strength getting back to the castle, the aftermath of his grief causing him to be less agile than before, bruising from botching jumps that should have been simple, cuts from bushes that would've been a cinch to avoid. Then the actual climb. It had been brutal without Midna to assist in the jumps, but he had managed, barely. The last jump nearly had him spent, but he made it. He lay there for a moment, just breathing slowly, savoring the rest.

He didn't react in time. He heard the footsteps outside, saw the doorknob turn, but he failed to hide, to lose the amulet, to do something to avoid his unexpected visitor. Instead, he watched as Zelda entered his room and the surprise play out on her face, followed by her clapping a hand over her mouth to hide the involuntary scream of panic. Even with half her face covered by her hand, he could see the pure terror, and then watched it melt into faint recognition, finally she lowered her hand, and with wariness still evident in her voice, she whispered, barely audible "Link?"

Keening mournfully, the large wolf nodded its head. Then, before her eyes, the canine's profile shone brightly with a muted light similar to the twilight shroud, and suddenly the Hero of Twilight kneeled where the Sacred Wolf had been before. All wariness forgotten, Zelda rushed forward to where he was, concern overshadowing all other inclinations. "What happened?"

Within 10 minutes he had told her everything, apart from his realization that he could harbor feelings for the princess. Everything starting from what little he had learned from his time in the library, to his excursion as a wolf, to his heroics with the attacked family and the subsequent rejection with the father, and finally the long, arduous trek home.

While he talked, Zelda tended to the minor scratches and cuts he had acquired from his escapade. She was no doctor, but she knew basic treatment for minor wounds, and she put to work that knowledge, using a dampened cloth to clean the cuts, covering them in white, sterile bandages. After they had been covered, she simply sat and listened as he finished his story. She could tell from the slight slouch in his shoulders and the troubled expression in his eyes that he had taken the rejection of the family hard. But there was something else, something he had omitted from his tale, but Zelda decided to leave it be, now was not the time to press him for more information.

When he finished, they both sat in silence for a while, as Zelda searched for what to say. He obviously needed to hear that what the man did was of no fault to him, that he was still the Hero that had rescued Hyrule from enslavement and possible destruction. But the words didn't come. She simply couldn't find the way to deliver them. So silence continued, until the hollow voice of Link broke it "You should go back to your room Zelda, it's getting late, and you don't want to be caught in here at this hour." Searching desperately for the words to banish the hollowness from his voice, she impulsively leaned forward and hugged him, quick, but filled with the words she couldn't articulate. She caught a flicker of life in his gaze, something she couldn't recognize, something struggling to get free. Pleased that her last-ditch effort had rewarded some result, she got up and left, closing the door behind her.

Link didn't move for a long time after she left, just sat and stared at the same spot he had been. But finally, as he prepared for sleep, a small grin touched his face as his eyes drooped, and a warmth kept the cold at bay all night.

AN- Liked it, didn't? Review please, and tell me what you thought! Thinking about branching out and doing other titles like Mass Effect, Halo, Minecraft, etc. First ill keep updating this, but keep a weather eye on the horizon! Addio!